Little worried

[Louise38]

Don’t be scared by the carb counting. It’s not as hard as it might sound, and, when your son is ready for it, carb counting will provide more flexibility and make life more normal as far as food is concerned. You’ll also find that you don’t need to sit there frantically counting each meal because he’ll be eating similar meals and so you’ll know the carb total for that meal without having to count it up.

Of course you want to help your son - and you are 🙂 You’re looking for knowledge, being careful, and giving him the support he needs. You’re doing all the right things. Sharing his diabetes helps share some of the pressure on him.

Thankyou for taking the time to respond, I’m so thankful for your advice it’s what is keeping us going at them moment

 

[stillgoing]

If and when your son fells more confident he might like to join the forum under is own identity. Sometimes we feel like asking questions without parental knowledge. 🙂

 

[stephknits]

Hi, sorry to hear of your son's diagnosis, my daughter was diagnosed in May, she is 17. Its hard being a parent and wanting to make sure everything is right, it is fine that you are struggling too! Let us know how you are both getting on

 

[Squirrel768]

I know it was a long time ago now, I was diagnosed at 35, GP aranged a trip to the hospital that afternoon (it was a Friday) where they gave me some guidelines for the weekend, then went in on Monday to spend 4 days being stabilised, and trained how to do my insulin. (Back then, it was drawing up a syringe ...) Also how to test and learn to adjust. Testing was a urine dip ... ! The technology newadays is marvellous, and so much easier to know what is going on! The hospital stay was to get my levels down as quickly as possible. I sleepwalked into the ward on Monday, and practically danced out on the Thursday!

The trick back then was to work out roughly how many 'exchanges' of 10 grammes of carb were n a meal, (the exchanges being any food of approx. 1 grammes which could be exchanged for another - so an apple, or a potato, etc.) and learn how much insulin would balance it.

Being given a set does for each meal means having the same amount of carb for each meal (given that different times of day can have a different result from the same amont of insulin). Knowing what is what will come with time/experience, but I would suggest having a word with your team about balancing the food against the insulin. If only to be able to vary his diet ... and how to handle a treat sometimes!

Hope everythng goes well, the life-change can be a huge shock to start with!